


The wait and the return

by I_Am_Many



Series: A Slice of Stucky [6]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Anxious Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Feels, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, POV Third Person, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Post-Mission, Public Display of Affection, Separations, Stucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 13:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7641934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_Many/pseuds/I_Am_Many
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Bucky, what are you doing here? You're completely soaked! [...] What's wrong, what happened?”<br/>“You're late.” he replied, summing up all his fears in those three little words.<br/>“Oh I know, I'm so sorry, but the comm went do–“<br/>Bucky didn't let him finish.</p><p>(Post NATWW)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The wait and the return

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> This is another one of my fan-art inspired piece. And it was inspired by this beautiful animated fan-art from the amazingly talented Ssaravinter  
> http://ssaravinter.tumblr.com/post/144658500460/marvel-you-didnt-give-it-to-me-so-i-give-it-to  
> (and I encourage you all to go check her blog and her art!)
> 
> That said, I only want to give a little precision: this story is actually in the continuity of this whole "Stucky-verse" I seem to be creating (it's post NATWW), whereas the fan art was thought up to fill in for what we didn't get in CACW, meaning that there is a tiny discrepancy with the star on Bucky's arm. But hey! It doesn't really affect the story, a story I hope you'll enjoy!
> 
> PS: for the music lovers here, I wrote this while listening to Shigeru Umebayashi's "Yumeji's theme" in a loop, and it goes particularly well with the story from the moment Bucky goes and wait outside.
> 
> ************************

Bucky was waiting. He didn't have anything else to do, or nothing relevant anyway. The others had tried to distract him. Sam had asked to spare with him, which he regretted very quickly. Wanda, who he had started calling Alaya, meaning Scarlet in Russian, asked him if she could do anything for him, maybe work on his memories with her magic. Bucky liked her, she was a force to be reckoned with, yet also such a sweet kid, always trying to help a friend. But he wasn't in the mood, and memories weren't enough. He wanted Steve back, now. So, after everyone had tried to keep him busy before finally giving up, and since he couldn't do anything else, he went and stood outside.

Steve had left on some kind of stealth mission last Tuesday evening with Nat and Tony:  
**“Come on Tony, you're sure he can't come?”**  
**“Listen Cap, you and your boyfriend are cute and everything, but he's not exactly cover material for Sanity magazine; no offense”** Tony said, turning to Bucky for the last bit.  
**“None taken. But you did poke a guy who turns into a fucking raging indestructible green giant while on an helicarrier, just to see what'd happen, so...”**  
**“He has a point Tony”** Steve interceded, trying to tip the scales in Bucky's favor.  
**“Hmmm... granted. But I haven't been brainwashed and used by an evil organization for half a century like your boyfriend here. So! He still has a final test before he's cleared, then you can go on missions Mr &Mrs Smith style as much as you want! ...Or wait, is there a gay equiv–”**  
**“Tony, shut up and let the fossils say goodbye”** Nat called from inside the jet before starting the engines.  
**“Don't worry Jack Frost, I'll get you your Capsicle back in three days!”**  
**“You better! And in one piece or I'll–”**  
**“Yeah yeah I know, you'll find me and rip my heart out of my chest with your metal hand, yada yada yada...”** Tony replied while boarding the jet.  
**“Well, I think he got the message... I'll see you in three days Buck, and hey, we've been apart way longer than that!”** Steve said on a joking tone.  
**“Yes I know. Just... not like _that_ "** replied Bucky, and looking into his eyes, Steve understood what he meant.

Yes, they had spent decades away from each other, thinking the other was dead, or too brainwashed to even think anything. But now they had found each other again, after over 70 years, and had finally acted on feelings that had stayed buried or repressed for as long. So everything was new in a way, their mind now flooded by the acute awareness of their feelings for each other, and being apart was no exception. Bucky took Steve's hand in his, emphasizing a pleading he tried not to make sound too desperate:  
**“Just...don't do anything stupid ok? Or I will find you and I'll kick your star-spangled ass back home!”**  
**“Yes Sarg!”** replied Steve, a little smile playing on his lips, trying to hide his own heavy heart. He had never felt more like a soldier being deployed that he did in that instant.  
But if being apart under their recent change in relationship was new to them, so was saying goodbye.  
And the “protocol” for that hadn't really been tested until now. Knowing this, Steve tentatively leaned forward, just slightly, as did Bucky, still holding hands...  
**“Hurry up Cap, this is still an actual mission, so wave your white handkerchief and get in here!”**  
There. If any kind of moment had been building up, it was now officially ruined. Bucky let go of Steve's hands and went in for a little hug before holding his left shoulder, looking him in the eyes just a bit longer than any simple friend would. Steve patted his hand, gave him a tender smile, then turned around and got in.  
Standing alone, his hair flying around his face with the whirlwinds caused by the engines' boost, Bucky regretted not kissing Steve the second the jet's door closed.

The trio was supposed to be back from their mission between 72 and 80h later. It had now been 90h. When they didn't come back on Friday evening, Bucky started worrying a little, while still trying to contain it. He asked Hill if she had heard anything, to which she said there had been no contact. This was, after all, a stealth mission. She assured him that just because they weren't back smack on schedule, didn't mean anything horrible had happened. Bucky knew she was right and didn't insist, but it didn't stop him from fretting over it. He did try to go to sleep that night, hoping to make time go faster until Steve's return. But every time he closed his eyes, all he could see were scenes of blood and death and very worst case scenario.

 

All morning the others tried to keep him busy, until he saw Hill's look of slight worry while monitoring the screen of her tablet. That was it.  
Back into what Sam called the “murder walk mode”, he went up to the room he'd been sharing with Steve for the past few days and changed into his tactical gear. No more mask or stealth paint, but he was still as deadly and determined, specially since it came to finding Steve.

He asked agent Hill to prep him a jet:  
**“Sorry but I can't do that Sarg.”**  
**“You mean you won't.”**  
**“Well... yes.”**  
**“They should be back, he should already be back by now! Something happened!”**  
**“James”** she said in a softer tone **“I understand you're worried. But I can't just let you take an Avengers jet at random.”**  
**“What if I still do?”**  
**“I know you could. I also know you want to be cleared so that you can be part of the future missions. But if you do that, clearance won't be waiting for you when you come back...”**  
Bucky could feel the rage boiling inside of him, but he also realized, to his extreme annoyance, that Hill was right.  
**“Fine. I can still go and wait outside or do I need a goddamn clearance for that too?”**  
Not waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question, he walked out of the facility and went to stand in the giant front lawn that also served as a landing area.

  
Taking out his pack of Luckies from one of his cargo pants' pocket, he stuck one between his lips and lit it up. Inhaling the smoke made him feel a bit calmer, like it was filling up that empty space in him which was waiting for Steve. But Steve was solid, and as soon as Bucky exhaled, watching the vaporous clouds of smoke slowly drift away in sunlight before disappearing, the emptiness recalled itself to him. Slowly but surely, he chained smoked the 6 cigarettes he had left, putting the stub back in the pack as he took out the next one. He had promised Steve to smoke less, and had kept his promise. But Steve wasn't here right now. That was the problem.  
As Bucky took a final drag on his last Lucky the sky, already darkened by the setting sun, got even darker as large grey clouds slowly settled around. It wasn't long before rain started falling, in a thin veil at first, like a mist that could disappear with the slightest gust of wind. Then the drops grew bigger and bigger, until the veil was replaced by heavy curtains of water pouring down on Bucky. But he didn't care, rain wouldn't stop him. He stood still in the lawn, which was slowly turning into a giant mud puddle. But he still didn't give a damn, he'd stay. He'd wait.

  
At first getting caught in his messy long hair, now water started merging its strands together, using them like electricity uses wires to follow its course. Drops ran along his forehead creased by worry, clinging to his eyebrows, hanging at the very tip of his long black lashes, letting go only when getting too heavy. Following the shape of his nose, getting lost in the maze of his 5 o'clock shadow, some found his mouth set in a hard line. All happening as if in slow motion first, his skin like a new territory the rain had to discover and adapt to. Then, as the drops joined together, rain found paths to follow and created tiny rivers on his face, his clothes, his arms. Especially his left one. It had sealed itself off of the humidity, which made it only more slippery, the raindrops having nothing to hold on to and rolling down along the shiny metal, forming minuscule waterfalls at Bucky's fingertips. The steady downpour was now permeating his tactical gear, seeping through to his skin in more and more places. But he wouldn't move. Bucky had seen worse, way worse. And so his resolve wouldn't melt in the rain: he would stay standing here, in front of the facility, until Steve came back, or until he got news he wouldn't.  
He noticed night was falling just as the overhead spotlights got switched on, their powerful light illuminating big patches of the front lawn. He was standing right at the edge of one, with just enough light that he could be seen, but still enough shadow that both could play around, giving away only half of him and keeping other parts hidden in darkness. Now completely drenched, Bucky could feel humidity all the way to his feet, the water having found a way inside his boots. Right when he noticed the strange sensation, a muted noise started rising from afar before getting closer and clearer. Bucky looked up and there it was: the jet, in its final approach, and finally landing a few meters away from him.

  
Steve noticed a shape standing outside the second the door opened. Using his shield as an umbrella, he walked down the ramp and toward the dimly lit body, quickly understanding the shape was no other than Bucky standing in the downpour, looking straight at him. Walking faster to reach him, Steve got closer to literally shield him from the rain as well, though it seemed to be way too late for that.  
**“Bucky, what are you doing here? You're completely soaked!”** he said in alarm, his voice urgent with concern as he tucked some of Bucky's wet strands of hair behind his ears.  
**“What's wrong, what happened?”**  
**“You're late.”**  he replied, summing up all his fears in those three little words.  
**“I know, I'm so sorry, but the comm went do–“**  
Bucky didn't let him finish. He couldn't. He had to make sure.  
Make sure that it wasn't a figment of his imagination, that it was Steve in front of him. Here. Late, but alive.  
Cupping the soldier's face with his flesh hand and putting his metal one on the back of his head, Bucky cut Steve mid-sentence and brought him to his lips in an eager kiss. It was the kiss he had regretted not giving him before he left, but also the kiss that meant “I missed you more than words could say”.  
It was a craving kiss, full of urgency, of relief, of everything he still had trouble saying. How incredibly lucky he felt to be with him, how the love Steve gave him felt like a salvation he still wasn't sure he entirely deserved. Getting as close to him as possible, Bucky's hand clung to his face, his hair, trying to translate all of this, all his worried thoughts and all his longing into that simple yet powerful gesture.

  
A gesture Steve understood the moment his lips touched Bucky's. He had been nervous when the com went down, as he knew Bucky would worry. But he never thought he'd worry that much, until he tasted it in his kiss and realized a simple thing: if the situation had been reversed, he would have done the same. And so he put his free arm around the man he loved, their body now fully against each other's, showing him he knew, he understood and that it was all okay.  
He let his hand slowly slide from his drenched hair to his leather-clad back, down to his bottom, grabbing it. It wasn't something Steve would usually do in public but here, standing on the edge of the shadows, cloaked by the rainstorm, he didn't think twice as it was the only way to keep Bucky as physically close to him as possible. Close enough to make him understand how much he meant, how much he had been missed. Close enough that, even without speaking, he was able to relay that however deeply flawed Bucky was or how underserving of this love he thought he might be, Steve loved him with all he had and all he was.

  
And under his shield whipped by the pouring rain, their lips kept sealed by the other's, Steve told Bucky what only this kiss and no words could say: that he had come home, and that his home was right here, in Bucky's embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it and that you are gonna go give some love to Ssaravinter's art! So don't don't forget to give and spread the love, and leave your thoughts below! ;)


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